Mao Weidong is a 43-year old Beijing special policy deputy commander and member of Beijing SWAT team.

He set a planking world record for the longest time in an abdominal plank position with an incredible duration of 4 hours, 26 minutes.

Resting only on his elbows and tiptoes, Mao proceeded to smash the previous planking world record of 3 hours, 7 minutes and 15 seconds set by American athlete George Hood in 2013.

So, to show I still had it, I gave it a whirl. I lasted a full 90 seconds, the last 30 seconds of which my body was fully contorted. After collapsing, I noted that I lay in the recovery-face-first position longer than when I was in the plank position. (Now there’s an athlete!)